$80 Million Default Judgment Against Iran for Iraq Roadside Bomb That Killed a Soldier and Injured His Platoon Leader
After trial: Default judgment entered March 31, 2024 after Iran failed to appear, and the docket shows no appeal. Collection against a foreign sovereign is uncertain, and we could not confirm that any of the judgment has been paid.
Won by Corboy & Demetrio.
A federal judge in Chicago entered a default judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran for a 2009 roadside bomb attack in Iraq that killed Army Sergeant Joshua Soto and injured his platoon leader, First Lieutenant Miles Murray. Iran never appeared, and the court heard the plaintiffs' proof at a four-day evidentiary hearing. Murray was awarded $28 million, Soto's widow $32 million, and the couple's minor son $20 million, each including punitive damages.
What happened
On June 16, 2009, a convoy of four up-armored Humvees left the Eastern Barracks outside Samawah, in Iraq's Muthanna Province, bound for a district police headquarters. Shia militants of the Promised Day Brigades detonated an explosively formed penetrator beside the road as the convoy passed. The device struck the second vehicle, which carried Sergeant Joshua Soto and his platoon leader, First Lieutenant Miles Murray, 25. Soto suffered a large puncture wound to his hip and was rushed to an aid station after the convoy returned to base. He did not survive.
Murray was not burned, lost no limb and had no shrapnel wounds, but the blast injured him all the same. Back at base he felt significant pain and bruising in his upper body, and for the rest of his deployment he sensed something was seriously wrong. He developed back pain that has worsened over time and was later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, with memory problems and debilitating migraines. He was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2013 the Army medically retired him with a 100 percent VA disability rating, and his back pain later forced him to leave a civilian job.
Soto's widow, Thelma Soto, sued in the Northern District of Illinois on September 24, 2015, individually, as representative of her husband's estate, and as mother and next friend of the couple's young son. Murray joined as a plaintiff. They sued the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Ministry of Information and Security under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which lets American victims hold a state sponsor of terrorism civilly liable for extrajudicial killing and for material support to the groups that carry it out. Their theory was that Iran, working through Hezbollah and the Quds Force, supplied militants in Iraq with these weapons and the training to use them, intending attacks on American forces.
The case took years to reach a decision. Iran never appeared and was held in default. Because the statute bars a default judgment against a foreign state unless the claimant proves the claim with satisfactory evidence, Judge Andrea R. Wood held a four-day evidentiary hearing. Murray and Thelma Soto testified, along with their commanding officer, a State Department consultant who witnessed the attack, and experts on Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and the design of these weapons. Kenneth T. Lumb of Corboy & Demetrio appeared for the plaintiffs from the first filing, and the docket lists a second lawyer for the plaintiffs, Andrew P. Stevens.
On March 31, 2024, Judge Wood granted default judgment against Iran, dismissing the ministry as an unnecessary party, for a total of $80 million. Murray received $7 million for pain and suffering and $21 million in punitive damages. Thelma Soto received $8 million in solatium damages for the loss of her husband and $24 million in punitive damages. The couple's son received $5 million in solatium damages and $15 million in punitive damages, awarded through his mother as next friend. The court set punitive damages at three times each plaintiff's compensatory award, a multiplier it described as becoming the usual practice in state-sponsored terrorism cases.
Iran did not appear at any stage, and the docket shows no appeal. The case was terminated the same day the judgment was entered.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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